Soon There Will Only Be One Blockbuster Left In The Whole World

06/03/2019

1 hour ago 5 Shares Soon There Will Only Be One Blockbuster Left In The Whole World Wed Mar 06 2019 15:38:44 GMT+0000 (GMT) Wed Mar 06 2019 15:39:21 GMT+0000 (GMT) Amelia Ward Amelia Ward in News Powered by Not everyone will remember the glory days of the institution that is Blockbuster. For all the…

Soon There Will Only Be One Blockbuster Left In The Whole World

Not everyone will remember the glory days of the institution that is Blockbuster.

For all the 90s kids out there, Friday nights were a complete treat. Wandering around the store, trying to sneak Scream 2 into the basket when really you were only old enough for Legally Blonde, and then the painstaking decision of which snack to commit to.

For anyone not familiar with Blockbuster, it was like the real life, bricks and mortar version of Netflix, where people actually had to leave the house to get a film to watch (crazy, I know).

For a while, there were two stores left in the world – one near Perth in Australia and another in the US. But one of those has closed and now, if you want to relive those glorious times, you will have to travel all the way to the town of Bend in Oregon – because that’s where the last branch Blockbuster on the whole planet is.

Having filed for bankruptcy back in 2010, the franchised stores have been slowly and sadly on the decline, with the last UK store closing down more than five years ago.

The general manager of the second to last Blockbuster in the world says how they fought until the very end.

Speaking to the Australian Associated Press, co owner of the Perth store Lyn Borszeky said: “We put in a pretty good effort to be the last one in Australia, I suppose, but it was going to happen eventually and now is the time.”

The Bend store seem pretty proud of its achievement though, and rightfully so.

Blockbuster – Bend, Oregan

According to the store’s Twitter account, they have been nobly serving the population of their small town since 2000, and don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.

We’re probably all a little bit to blame for the demise of Blockbuster. Thanks to our pure laziness in not wanting to leave the house to either pick a film or to eat, and also how shocking we all were at returning our films, resulting in all those unpaid late fees (oops).

Credit: PA

After finding out the news, people have even started becoming members of the Bend Blockbuster (yes – that is a thing), with people from as far and wide as London and Taiwan dropping in.

But for now, the Bend store is staying put – partly due to the fact that the managers own the land it’s on, so there’s no rent to pay. Maybe the nostalgic novelty value will keep it going? Either way, we hope it’s got what it takes to stay strong and survive the Netflix age, otherwise Blockbuster will be lost forever.

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